"In Brazil we do talk about race but not in an honest way – about white privilege, concentration of power, about the importance of diversity – no, we talk about how we're all Brazilian, we're all mixed." -Paulo Rogerio

â€śHopeâ€ť and â€śchangeâ€ť were the keywords of President Barack Obamaâ€™s 2008 campaign, and in his farewell address on January 10, 2017, he cited the evidence that heâ€™d deliveredâ€”from reversing the Great Recession, rebooting the auto industry, and unleashing the longest stretch of job creation in the nationâ€™s history to winning marriage equality and securing the right to health insurance for another 20 million citizens. At the same time, and with a view to the countryâ€™s divisive polarization, he made a plea for â€śthe decency of our peopleâ€ť and â€śthe sense of common purpose that we so badly need right now.â€ť

In hindsight, it is increasingly possible to understand whether and how Obamaâ€™s legacy matched his rhetoric as well as to evaluate from various angles what his presidency accomplished and what this has meant for US politics, public policy, and civic life going forward. In The Obama Legacy some of the leading observers and scholars of US politics take up this challenge. In twelve essays these writers examine Obamaâ€™s choices, operating style, and opportunities taken and missed as well as the institutional and political constraints on the presidentâ€™s policy agenda. What were Obamaâ€™s personal characteristics as a leader? What were the policy aspirations, output, and strategy of his presidency? What was his role as a political and public leader to the various constituencies needed to generate presidential power? And how did his presidency interact with other political forces?

Addressing these questions and others, the authors analyze Obamaâ€™s preferences, tactics, successes, and shortcomings with an eye toward balancing the personal and institutional factors that underlie eachâ€”all the while considering how resilient or fragile Obamaâ€™s legacy will be in the face of the Trump administrationâ€™s eager efforts to dismantle it.